Box Score OKLAHOMA CITY (Jan. 23, 2016) – Oklahoma Christian nearly stole one from Heartland Conference power Rogers State on Saturday afternoon, but ended up leaving the Eagles' Nest in disappointment.
John Moon's closely guarded, leaning 8-foot jumper bounced off the rim as time expired, allowing Rogers State to hang on for a 69-67 win over an OC squad that never backed down from the Hillcats, who are ranked 10th in the D2-SIDA South Central Region poll.
Moon had another strong game for OC (4-14, 1-9 Heartland), finishing with 20 points, six rebounds, three blocked shots and two assists. He leads the conference in the first three of those categories.
"I thought it was a great effort," OC coach
Dan Hays said. "I thought the kids followed our plan well. … We took care of the basketball. We shot it a little bit better. It was just a good effort. I feel bad for our kids, because it was a game that was winnable."
The final two minutes were filled with momentum swings for both teams.
Elijah Strickland, who scored 18 points and went 3-of-4 from 3-point range, tied the game at 64-64 with a 3-pointer with 1:23 left. At the other end, star Rogers State guard J.C. Hartzler – who scored 18 points – answered with an NBA-range 3-pointer to put the Hillcats up 67-64.
Moon's put-back with 39.1 second left pulled OC within 67-66. After a timeout, Rogers State (15-3, 7-3) ran the clock down and scored on a backdoor layup by Corey Ayala as the shot clock expired, with 9.8 seconds left on the game clock.
Strickland took the ensuing inbounds pass and looked to take a potential tying 3-pointer when Hartzler fouled him with 1.4 seconds left, leaving OC little option but to hope Strickland would make the first free throw, then deliberately miss the second and hope for the rebound.
That's exactly what happened. The rebound was tipped out of bounds by the Hillcats with four-tenths of a second left, but officials reviewed the replay and adjusted the time to nine-tenths of a second.
Jordan Rutherford inbounded to the 7-foot Moon, who naturally was surrounded by three Hillcats. Moon took his shot while being jostled and bumped, but no foul was called.
"I'd be curious to see what it looks like on film," Hays said.
Hays noted the Eagles, who entered the game leading the Heartland in free-throw percentage, hurt themselves by going just 11-of-19 (57.9 percent) from the line.
The game was close all the way, with neither team leading by more than seven points, that at halftime, when Rogers State was up 37-30. OC took its first lead since the first two minutes at 46-44 with 11:50 left on a 3-pointer by Strickland.
Rogers State was up 63-58 with 3:07 left after two free throws by Hartzler, but a 6-1 run by OC, capped by Strickland's tying 3-pointer, set up the dramatic finish.
Donald Moore added 12 points and six assists for the Hillcats.
Chiza Ntirata grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds, eight of those offensive, for OC, as the Eagles outrebounded Rogers State 35-29.
OC will visit St. Mary's (Texas) on Thursday before traveling to Laredo, Texas, to face Texas A&M International next Saturday.
"I will say that we have made a lot of improvement," Hays said. "Our teams characteristically through the years play better as the year goes on. We've just dug ourselves such a tremendous hole, it's hard to get out of it. But we played good basketball this week and I'm pleased with our progress."
Dan Hays on the game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8hjgyPXLBg&feature=youtu.be
